Pfizer to use Exco InTouch for patient communication

Pfizer has announced it is to use Exco InTouch’s mobile messaging technology.

The service is set to be selected for the efficacy of patient recruitment and retention in phase I clinical trials in Belgium, Singapore and the US.

Named Atlas, Exco InTouch says the regulatory compliant system can send text messages to any handset and can be integrated with existing healthcare management systems.

The service will also provide Pfizer with an audit trail, by tracking the delivery of the bulletins with receipts that are sent back to the original distributor.

In other news, Pfizer has said it has withdrawn a bid to sell Viagra over the counter – and without prescription – in Europe, following regulators’ concerns about the safety of the drug.

The pulling of the application follows the European Medicines Agency’s Medicinal Products for Human Use statement, which said it had apprehensions about the product.

Pfizer said the pulling of the item will however enable evaluation of further information and additional data.

The company continued: “[This] may be required to allow any future assessments under the centralised procedure.”

Based in New York, US, Pfizer’s 2007 revenues were $48.4 billion (33 billion pounds), with research and development spending accounting for $8.1 billion.